At a Loss

As an elementary school teacher, I am the single adult responsible for 24 children for the majority of their day. In that, I have the responsibility for reporting alarming behavior that may warrant further intervention.

When a child displays alarming behavior that causes a teacher to seek further intervention, you expect that the child will then get the services they need and deserve. In higher income school districts, that would happen. But, in a lower-income school, what happens when the child's insurance doesn't cover the services that the current situation requires? If all the red flags and warning signs are there, it is all clearly documented, but the child cannot receive the necessary interventions, what happens? Are there no emergency intervention resources available to these students?

It seems like nobody knows the answer, or there simply isn't an answer. All we're left with, then,is a really large, frightening flaw in the services available to these students.

This is exactly how scary situations happen in schools, and only after they happen, people ask: Why didn't anyone stop this? All the warning signs were there!